The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 2 by Bella Forrest (best ebook reader for pc TXT) 📕

spires of the horizon, waiting for him. He pictured her at breakfast, the morning Natalie had arrived at their house, beaming over freshly made pancakes and ripe red strawberries. She had been so pleased to see him socializing with someone his own age, even if she had had to drag them across an ocean. It broke his heart to think of her in that moment, so happy and brimming with life. He knew he would give anything to see her again, but that same guilt toward leaving everyone behind twisted at his insides—the conscience that had kept him within the manor walls thus far. It was an unfair balance that tipped one way and then the other with each passing moment.

His feelings toward the other students were marred a little by the furtive behavior of his so-called friends, but still he knew in his heart that their secret-keeping was not enough reason for him to leave everyone else to their fates. He had kept his own secrets from them, hadn’t he?

“That’s all I have to do?” asked Alex quietly.

“That is all, Alex. You must leave, this moment, alone,” Escher repeated, but with no hint of haste in his words.

Closing his eyes, Alex thought about his options. He tried to picture his mother, but the image of her remained blurry in his head, the edges undefined and grainy. Part of him wondered if he might just slip out for a moment, just to leave a note for her, to let her know that he was okay and that he hadn’t abandoned her. Even if it was just to see her for a while, to make sure the grief hadn’t made her worse. Just to make sure she was alive; that was all he wanted. Plans and schemes raced through his mind as he felt his time slipping away like sand through his fingers. Ideas of how he might deliver his message and return to Spellshadow Manor flitted half-formed through his mind, and yet Escher’s offer was clear—this trip was a one-way ticket. A tempting one.

Miserably, Alex shook his head. “I can’t accept,” he said through gritted teeth.

“I beg you to reconsider. Think of your mother,” Escher said, almost tauntingly, picking up the painful threads of Alex’s heartstrings and yanking hard on them. “She is all alone out there, Alex. With your father gone and now you, she has nobody. She is sick, and losing you has only made her worse. I have seen her for myself, Alex—”

“Liar!” snapped Alex savagely.

Escher shook his head. “I have nothing to gain by lying to you, Alex. I am telling you the truth when I say I have seen your mother. She is not doing well without you. Each day, she grows weaker, her eyes forever on the door, awaiting your return. Each day that you don’t come home, her spirit is sapped just a little, and her strength wanes,” he said softly. “She needs you, Alex. She needs you far more than anyone in here does.”

Alex wasn’t sure if Escher was telling the truth, but the professor had certainly played on just the right insecurities. Alex’s heart ached at the continued thought of her out there, sick and alone and missing him. In his head, he knew he couldn’t leave. It was his sacrifice to stay and help in any way he could, but the sentence was a long one. He thought of the dream image of Lintz and Derhin as much younger men. They had spent nearly their entire lives within the manor’s walls. Was that his fate if he didn’t take Escher up on his offer? To see his mother again was a sacrifice of another sort. And yet, either way, somebody was going to lose. Alex wasn’t sure if he was ready to let that person be his mother.

He knew what he had to do.

“I have my answer,” said Alex softly.

“And what is your answer?” asked Escher, taking a seat in the chair opposite. He leaned closer to Alex, waiting patiently.

Alex looked up at Escher, his gaze fierce.

But when he opened his mouth to speak, the roar of an explosion crashed through the air as the ballroom’s heavy doors split open with a sudden rush and splinter of wood. Natalie and Jari burst in through the falling debris and sprinted across the polished black marble, sending shards of magic hurtling toward Escher.

Escher had little time to think as Natalie charged him, conjuring intricate webs of magic with her hands, her fingers moving rapidly as she sent glowing tendrils of her own golden magic up beneath Escher’s sleeves and down into his skin. He froze, juddering as Natalie’s magic took over his body, controlling him. His hands tried to move, to fight back, and it looked as if he might break free.

A coil of crackling golden magic erupted from Escher’s palm. He pushed Natalie’s magic aside, but Jari was ready with the cavalry. He sent a ripple of glowing amber toward Escher in a thin wisp that struck the professor in the shoulder. Tremors shook Escher’s body as the spell did its work, wrenching Escher’s limbs into violent spasms that sent him crashing to the floor.

Natalie sent the tendrils snaking back beneath Escher’s skin and gripped her fingers tightly into her palms as she held her magic inside him, controlling his body and his magic, preventing him from fighting back.

Alex watched in amazement as Natalie lifted Escher to his feet and jerked him back toward the chair, throwing him down with a graceless thud. His eyes glittered furiously beneath his mask as he struggled to break free of Natalie’s hold, but she had truly become an exceptional Mage. Nobody could deny it—her magic was extraordinary.

“Don’t mind the intrusion.” Jari grinned as he undid a silvery coil of rope and tied Escher’s hands behind his back. Alex was confused, knowing a simple rope wouldn’t keep Escher at bay, but it seemed Jari had learned some new tricks too as he fed a weaving